ByWITH ANALYSIS FROM MONITOR CORRESPONDENTS AROUND THE WORLDEDITED BY CLARA GERMANIJuly 23, 1981

Rome
— An Italian court convicted Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca of shooting Pope John Paul II and wounding two American tourists at the Vatican, sentencing him to life in prison -- the maximum under Italian law.

Agca, who admitted he fired the shots that wounded Pope in St. Peter's Square , was not in the courtroom when the sentence was read. He attended only the first day of the trial and has since remained in hi isolation cell at Rome's Rebbibia prison, refusing to take part in the proceedings. Agca's attorney had argued that Agca was a "religious fanatic" who acted alone in the May 13 shooti ng, apparently seeking to be a hero of the Muslim world.